If you do the crime you can increasingly expect to do the time, whatever the Party affiliation, as Chen Liangyu might tell you these days. He did the crime some time ago, and now at least knows how much time he must do:

“The former Communist Party boss of Shanghai, Chen Liangyu, was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison for taking bribes and abusing power.

Mr. Chen, who before his arrest in late 2006 was also a member of China’s ruling Politburo, is the highest-ranking government official to be stripped of power here in more than a decade.

His downfall, after China’s top leaders decided to challenge his lock on power in his prosperous and politically powerful coastal city, is the fallout of an elite political struggle. It also exposed the prevalence of corrupt activities among Communist Party bosses.

His sentence was handed down at the No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court in the northern city of Tianjin, where he was tried.”

Prosecutors accused Mr. Chen, 61, of helping to siphon hundreds of millions of dollars from the city’s pension fund, and also of enriching himself, friends and relatives through shady financial and real estate deals beginning as early as 1988. Government auditors said they discovered that about $4.8 billion had been illegally taken out of the city’s social security fund while Mr. Chen was serving in various government posts in Shanghai.”

Guilty as charged? Quite probably. But if, as the report goes on to say, “he was guilty of accepting about $340,000 in bribes” one (everyone, that is) suspects there is more to the story than the money on the table. And, as is often said, politics is never far from business in China…

See news source:

Former Party Boss in China Gets 18 Years
New York Times – United States
Mr. Chen, who before his arrest in late 2006 was also a member of China’s ruling Politburo, is the highest-ranking government official to be stripped of …